Describes the fabliau features of ShT, comments on its likely (though unknown) source, observes that its "personal generalizations" are unusual in the genre, and assesses its treatment of women and its stylistic features as evidence that its original…
Sketches the development of "Gothic humanism," Platonism, and naturalism in medieval "plastic arts" and theory, locating similar principles and practices in CT--the principles expressed at the opening of PhyT and the practices found in a variety of…
Loomis, Laura Hibbard.
Speculum 33.2 (1958): 242-55.
Identifies the "tregetoures" of FranT 4.1141, not as jugglers or magicians, but as the "actors, craftsmen, 'artisans mécaniques'" who produced spectacular entertainments such as the ones recorded by chroniclers to have taken place at the Royal…
Observes that references to Elijah and Elisha in SumT 3.2116-18 evince "Chaucer's awareness, if not endorsement, of the widely held belief that the 'earliest anchorite' Elijah was the founder of the Carmelite Order," and provides various features of…
Argues that the "key fact" in Chaucer's satiric GP description of the Monk is that he is an "outrider," allowing leeway for suggestive details about diet, hunting, and other worldly concerns. Fabricates a fictional dialogue between the Monk and the…
Argues that the "citole" held in Venus's right hand in KnT 1.1959 evinces the influence of "the 'Ovidius moralizatus' of Petrus Berchorius (Pierre Bersuire)," and explores the possibilities of other influences on the depictions of Venus in KnT and in…
Compares a horoscope and its accompanying Latin text found in Equat with two analogous versions, showing that it has closest relations with the Nürnberg version printed in 1659.
Argues that Daniel 13.20 is a source of or influence on details of MerT 5.2138-48, and suggests that pictorial representations of Susannah and the Elders and details from the alliterative poem "Susannah" reveal ironic dimensions in Chaucer's scene of…
Explores the range and depth of Chaucer's familiarity with the "Liber Catonis," its commentaries and glosses, and the likelihood that he memorized portions as a schoolboy. Identifies verbal echoes of "Catoniana" in Chaucer's works; then focuses on…
Describes medieval coins referred to in Chaucer and other Middle English literature, particularly the florin, noble, 'écu' or shield, 'mouton d'or,' and ducat. Comments on the designs, values, and usage of these coins and corrects several…
Explores the unity of HF evident in the "evolution of the narrator, Geffrey," arguing that the poem "is essentially a humorous and all-embracing review of man's frantic quest for fame, learning, and love" that follows the educating of [a] drudging…
Assesses previous explanations of the "greyn" placed on the clergeon's tongue in PrT (7.662ff.), including comments on analogues, and suggests that it is best understood as a "grain of paradise," i.e., the seed capsule of Aframomum melegueta…
Traces the development of Troilus' character in TC, arguing that he grows from ignorance to wisdom in confronting the "fundamental mystery of the human condition": his noble, "tragic error . . . is to have tried to love a human being with an ideal…
Interprets Pandarus's reference to "corones tweyne" (TC 2.1735) as "a highly complex symbol of the two main pillars of mediaeval law and authority--the spiritual and temporal powers of the church and the state," forbidding Criseyde from killing…
Offers evidence that the "Ovidius Moralizatus" of Peter Bersuire (Petrus Berchorius) was the source of iconographical details associated with Venus in Chaucer's descriptions of the goddess in HF 131-39 and KnT 1.1955-66.
Suggests that the "greyn" placed on the clergeon's tongue by the Virgin in PrT 7.662 may represent that his "disembodied spirit [was] restored for a time," offering contextualizing background from biblical, classical, and medieval scientific sources…
Explicates Chaucer's reference to John of Legnano ("Lynyan" at ClT 4.34), clarifying the international reputation of the canon lawyer and his role in justifying the papal schism, suggesting how Chaucer may have learned of him during his 1378 mission…
Argues for choosing "wrighte" over "wight" among the manuscript variants of WBP 3.117, justifying the choice on the grounds of source material and consideration of scribal choices and practices.
Illustrates Chaucer's "comic misapplication" of "monitory elements" as a device of characterization in CT, discussing how the misapplied expressions of traditional wisdom can be used cleverly (as with Nicholas in MilT), foolishly (John in MilT and…
Documents the influence on WBPT, SumT, PardT, and, to a lesser degree, other parts of CT of the "Communiloquium" of John of Wales (or another fraternal compendium much like it), showing that a number of biblical, classical, and medieval quotations or…
Studies Chaucer's uses of "gan" and "do" with infinitive forms, tracing the history of the usage in English and providing statistics about Chaucer's uses and their relative chronologies. In Chaucer's works, "gan" is generally periphrastic and used…
Contemplates social status and social mobility in Chaucer's works, considering them in light of contemporaneous attitudes. Focuses on Chaucer's uses of "degree" and the ladder of degree as a "symbol of social mobility," inflected by Chaucer's comic…
Surveys late medieval "attitudes toward alchemy" in order to establish their influence on CYPT. Although Chaucer's depiction is generally orthodox in its condemnation of alchemy, it derives language and details from treatises that promote the study,…
Characterizes Criseyde in TC as a good, even perfect, courtly heroine until she is unfaithful to Troilus, a result of the very human "weakness in the face of death." More than does Boccaccio in "Filostrato," Chaucer creates a sense of inevitability…
Discusses references to five saints in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and comments briefly on Chaucer's uses of four of them (Peter, John, Julian, and Mary).
